Active Member

Allowing Clyne to leave baffles me the most. We are in 3 competitions with currently 1 right back. If Loverns meltdown in the big games have proven anything, its the fact that he should not be our CB option if Gomez is fully fit. Gomez therefore should not be covering right back and at 19 Trent should not be expected to play every 3 days for a full season.

Slightly frustrated, as we need to be adding depth to the squad, not getting rid of players who could play significant roles as the season unfolds. The fact that Danilo and Laporte started against us on Thursday, with Mendy injured and Walker on the bench, highlights the importance of proper depth.

I don't blame Clyne for being annoyed - Milner was starting at right back ahead of him when Trent was injured. I can't get my head around that logic!

If we can start Feb with the rest of the squad intact, and the addition of Werner, then that in my opinion still isn't enough, but its a start, because we've been lucky with injuries so far this season to our front 3, and we need a player who can provide genuine cover/competition for places.

18.23 GMT: Neil Warnock is fuming. He thought Nathaniel Clyne was heading to Cardiff but the Liverpool man eventually moved on loan to Bournemouth. "I'm disappointed with Nathaniel Clyne and Liverpool. To see on TV he's gone to Bournemouth when I've been promised he's my player is for me a disgrace and a lack of class," Warnock said. Ouch.

18.23 GMT: Neil Warnock is fuming. He thought Nathaniel Clyne was heading to Cardiff but the Liverpool man eventually moved on loan to Bournemouth. "I'm disappointed with Nathaniel Clyne and Liverpool. To see on TV he's gone to Bournemouth when I've been promised he's my player is for me a disgrace and a lack of class," Warnock said. Ouch.

"Oh, history writer, don't close the pages yet!"

I caught Chelsea - Nottingham Forest yesterday and I was so impressed with Hudson-Odoi. Obviously a small sample, a cup game, Championship opposition and all that but he looked every bit the talent that caught the eye of biggest clubs, I can certainly see why Bayern are genuinely interested. Direct, tricky, confident, quick, strong, playing left, playing right, ultimately set up two goals with great crosses. I wish Liverpool signed such a winger as I think Shaqiri is much more of a playmaker than a direct winger and Mane could use some competition.

Allez (x6)

I caught Chelsea - Nottingham Forest yesterday and I was so impressed with Hudson-Odoi. Obviously a small sample, a cup game, Championship opposition and all that but he looked every bit the talent that caught the eye of biggest clubs, I can certainly see why Bayern are genuinely interested. Direct, tricky, confident, quick, strong, playing left, playing right, ultimately set up two goals with great crosses. I wish Liverpool signed such a winger as I think Shaqiri is much more of a playmaker than a direct winger and Mane could use some competition.

TIA Squad Member

Just the latest example of Chelsea's ludicrous transfer policy, buying Pulisic for so much money and this kid is just sitting there not getting a look in.
He'll go to Bayern be given a chance, light it up with them and be worth 100m by this time next year.

In the Danger Zone.

Just the latest example of Chelsea's ludicrous transfer policy, buying Pulisic for so much money and this kid is just sitting there not getting a look in.
He'll go to Bayern be given a chance, light it up with them and be worth 100m by this time next year.

Well-Known Member

Just the latest example of Chelsea's ludicrous transfer policy, buying Pulisic for so much money and this kid is just sitting there not getting a look in.
He'll go to Bayern be given a chance, light it up with them and be worth 100m by this time next year.

Funnily enough Sancho is keeping Pulisic out the Dortmund team and who was keeping Sancho out the starting eleven for England at youth level, that’s right Hudson-Odoi. You couldn’t make it up could you lol

In the Danger Zone.

Funnily enough Sancho is keeping Pulisic out the Dortmund team and who was keeping Sancho out the starting eleven for England at youth level, that’s right Hudson-Odoi. You couldn’t make it up could you lol

When was that? Sancho has been labelled as the biggest talent in that age group for years, I doubt anybody kept him out the team.

As an aside, England has some incredible talent coming through in the wide areas - Sancho, Odoi, Sessegnon, Gibbs-White, Nelson etc. If we can snag any of them at a reasonable price we should be all over it. Sessegnon is still the one that makes the most sense for me.

Also, the relative success of these players so far shows why we shouldn't be so afraid of giving Brewster some minutes, he's very much of the same calibre.

Sancho was recalled by Dortmund in the middle of the tournament. He was brilliant in the 3 games he was there for iirc.

Sancho knocked in 14 in 18 for England u17s, Hudson-Odoi 5 in 22 (transfermrkt) and I'd imagine Sancho set more goals up too though I don't have the stats. As good as Hudson-Odoi appears to be I don't think he's ever been more highly rated than Sancho.

★★★★★★

Sancho was recalled by Dortmund in the middle of the tournament. He was brilliant in the 3 games he was there for iirc.

Sancho knocked in 14 in 18 for England u17s, Hudson-Odoi 5 in 22 (transfermrkt) and I'd imagine Sancho set more goals up too though I don't have the stats. As good as Hudson-Odoi appears to be I don't think he's ever been more highly rated than Sancho.

Ake, as mentioned by the poster above you, would actually be a really sound shout. Good quality in two positions, and would allow us to move on both Matip (simply injured too much to rely on) and Moreno and upgrade both positions, depth-wise, at a stroke. Rarely injured, afaik. Not sure how much he would cost, £30-40m maybe (pure speculation on my part and am in ignorance about his contract situation). We also seem to have a good relationship with Bournemouth when it comes to transfers. Could get behind a move like that.

VVD & Joe are the first-choice CB pairing now for the next 6 or 7 years, Lovren and Ake backing them up is pretty strong, although I would certainly have an eye on replacing Lovren in subsequent windows as and when the opportunity arises.

Well-Known Member

When assessing fringe players on the back of last night, you have to take into account lack of match fitness, the team being thrown together, and that they were alongside other fringe players.

But that said, the performances of many of them were still unacceptable and their attitude sucked.

We have been unlucky in who we've been drawn against in domestic cups, but it can't be said that our squad is equipped to compete on all fronts, because it doesn't.

The only season we've done ok in domestic cups under Klopp has been the season we didn't finish top 4.

We're a man down on two players for every position now, with only 19 outfield players, several players are injury prone (Lallana, Lovren, Gomez, Matip, even Henderson), whilst Sturridge, Origi and Moreno are huge drop offs on the first choices. Keita is not delivering and Shaqiri only seems to want to play when he's in a good 11.

It's great to see promising youngsters, but you don't win trophies on the back of them. They should be nurtured around the first team squad then loaned out to make them fully ready.

When the intense period comes again we will not sustain a title and PL challenge with this group.

Well-Known Member

Considering we had what? Our 3rd/4th choice RB, 2nd/3rd choice LB and our 5th? 6th? 7th? Choice CBs for the majority of the game I think our defence actually coped better than it should have. Moreno at LB is still the only major concern for me. Maybe at CB we shouldn't have both Matip and Love an as they're good enough to be 3rd and 4th choice just both very injury prone.

What concerned me most was;

GK; Clear that Mignolet (although not terrible) is nothing like our first choice in playing style. Game was slowed down so much every time he was involved and team shape wasn't right. Need a more appropriate back up.

CM; Milner cannot be the CM with most defensive role. Keita should only be partnered with Fabinho, Henderson or Wijnaldum in a double pivot. Or one of those 3 as deepest in a midfield 3.

Attack; If Firmino, Salah, Mane and Ox are our first choice front 4 then with the possible exception of Lallana for Jones that was our 2nd choice attack last night. I know Origi scored and then started making himself a bit busier but he was mostly awful. Shaqiri doesn't have the individual quality to do it all alone but is good with better players around him. Sturridge should be a supersub only these days. Lallana wouldn't give much more based on recent seasons either. We desperately need to improve our second choices in attack. At least 1 or 2 good to great players.

Keita Balde personality doesn't fit the profile of someone Klopp would want in his squad. Too much ego.

Considering that the level of player in the squad currently is so high, you'd think the club are looking at players of a higher calibre than Ake. He's not better than any of the 4 CB's at the club, nor does he have the potential to be. He's also listed as being 1.80 in height which is considerably shorter than what Klopp has clearly felt is important in his CB's.

"Oh, history writer, don't close the pages yet!"

A lot of us suspected that Liverpool's squad depth wasn't what it was made out to be when, in certain matches, the bench consisted of, for example, Mignolet, Lovren, Moreno, Fabinho, Keita, Sturridge and Origi (I think there were one or two matches with this exact bench or a very similar one, usually it was a straight choice between Solanke and Origi).

It is usually unfair to judge the squad depth when an almost fully changed team takes to the field in a cup competition viewed as third or fourth priority but looking at their individual performances, I don't think anyone would expect a major upturn in form of Mignolet, Moreno or Sturridge if they played in Klopp's first choice XI. That's where Liverpool are lagging severely behind Man City and that's why I consider Man City favourites for the title.

I bitterly hope that none of these will have to be relied upon until the end of this season, otherwise Liverpool are screwed. From what I see, relative to what one considers to be Klopp's first choice XI and depending on their fitness, I think it's safe to say that Klopp fully counts on Matip, Lovren, Milner, Henderson and Shaqiri as his options in rotation, Keita to a certain extent, maybe even adding kids like Camacho and Brewster into equation, while the likes of Moreno, Sturridge and Origi are taken into consideration through necessity rather than quality.

From this summer on, I'd expect the latter three to be playing for new clubs, perhaps with Lallana following suit as he's proven he can't be relied upon at all due to perennial fitness issues. Given that strikers' clear-out has begun with Ings and Solanke, I wonder if Klopp might pull the trigger in January given the state of the squad and title race. Basically, their transfer fees, their and Sturridge's wages should cover for that new striker, whoever he is (unless Liverpool surprise us all by getting a top class, top dollar addition such as, say, Dybala, which I don't see happening).

Yours for £1m. Need to make room for Dean Saunders

I think we need to get used to few things after a few years with Klopp.

1. Klopp doesn’t not spend money if he feels he has a workable solution already at the club.

2. Klopp will treat his players as human being before viewing them as playing assets. If a players wants to leave, he’ll try to make it happen rather than force them to stay.

3. He seems to prefer a smaller, tighter squad than a bloated one. I don’t think he wants unhappy players, and sees this as a bigger problem than having fewer bodies than is ideal.

4. Klopp will rarely buy in the January window. He believes the quality is not there, and there is little point bringing in players whe thy would need a significant chunk of the ready of the season to adapt.

5. He sees the January window as a time to move players out if he doesn’t think they’ll get playing time.

I think these things are pretty evident from the way Klopp goes about his work. So I don’t expect any signings in January, as that simply isn’t the way that Klopp does things.